Stewart appointed SLO mayor, replacing Harmon. Shoresman fills council seat
San Luis Obispo has a new mayor and City Council member — and they are two familiar names in local public service.
The City Council unanimously supported SLO Vice Mayor Erica Stewart to fill the seat vacated by Heidi Harmon, who resigned to take on a new environmental advocacy role. Harmon’s last day was Sept. 21.
Michelle Shoresman is the newest SLO City Council member, appointed with a 4-0 vote.
Stewart becomes SLO’s first black mayor in the city’s municipal history of more than 170 years. And the council, as it was comprised after the election in 2020, remains all female.
“It’s an awesome honor,” Stewart said after her selection. “I think that all of us in this role (on City Council) are leaders. But each and every person in this community contributes to making San Luis Obispo a better place. It doesn’t matter what titles we have next to our names.”
Shoresman currently is employed as SLO County’s division manager of Health Care Access, playing a key leadership role in COVID-19 response, and served on SLO’s Planning Commission.
Shoresman added: “I am humbled and honored to serve with all of you. ... I’ll do my best. I’m ready to take it on.”
The term for each will end in December 2022. Councilmember Carlyn Christianson was appointed vice mayor in place of Stewart.
The new SLO mayor
Stewart was chosen to finish the two-year mayoral term over entrepreneur Jeffrey Specht and bicycle shop owner Josh Cohen.
Stewart, whose father is Black and mother is white, was elected to the City Council in 2018, then becoming the city’s first Black council member since the city was incorporated in 1850.
Stewart currently is employed as assistant director of personnel and marketing for Cal Poly Campus Health & Wellbeing. The university has granted her a 75% work time arrangement to better balance her schedule as SLO’s new mayor.
“We’ve had a lot (as a city in recent months) — social and racial reckoning, a pandemic which hasn’t happened for 100 years,” Stewart said Tuesday at the meeting. “We need to heal. We need to figure out how to find a sustainable and inclusive way to move forward.”
Stewart wrote in her application that her three years of service on the council would help facilitate a transition.
“As a council, we have worked hard on: COVID-19 response, climate action, housing, homelessness, transportation, diversity, equity, social, and environmental issues,” Stewart said. “There has been a tremendous amount of work done to lay the foundation for these goals. And I believe it is crucial for the council to maintain consistency of leadership during this transition to not lose focus or momentum.”
City Councilmember Andy Pease said of Stewart: “I’m particularly impressed by her broad professional and volunteer experience and that she has served as a leader and as a support role, which I think are equally important.”
Pease noted that Stewart has been “deeply involved with our diversity, equity, inclusion work” and broadened SLO’s connections regionally and statewide.
The new SLO council member
Shoresman has served in public roles including the county’s Pension Trust Board.
“In this role, I am responsible for making policy and investment decisions for over $1.2 billion in assets and $90 million in annual income,” Shoresman said.
Appointed to SLO Planning Commission in March 2020, Shoresman said she has recommended “hundreds of units of affordable housing, provided feedback on new area specific plans, and made improvements to city housing policies and programs.”
Shoresman added in her presentation: “I believe that there’s never only one way to solve a problem, and diversity of opinion and experience matters.”
Shoresman, who plans to run for council again in 2022, said she’ll work to advance climate action, homeless response, economic recovery instability, and budget and pension management.
“She knows land use, and I have to say this is not only to decrease her learning curve, but it really helps our staff,” said Councilwoman Carlyn Christianson at the meeting.
Councilwoman Jan Marx said the city needs “continuity and experience.” Marx added she met with Shoresman to ask her about her position as a bicycle advocate and whether she could make decisions that would be fair to disabled residents.
“I’m convinced that she will be fair-minded and even-handed,” Marx said.
Who applied to serve
The other council applicants were: Emily Francis, a high school social studies teacher; Joe Benson, an attorney; Michael Draze, a Red Cross volunteer and former Pismo Beach community development director; Mike Multari, a former Cal Poly facilities assistant director, former SLO community development director; Mila Vujovich-La Barre, a San Luis Coastal Spanish and U.S. History teacher; Robin Wolf, a restaurant owner; Sharon Whitney, a retired political science professor; and Joshua Cohen, a bicycle shop owner.
As part of the presentations for candidacy, Wolf said she’d advocate for renters and the food service industry, calling for the council to recognize “that our perspective, and our struggles and voices matter.”
Vujavich-La Barre cited traffic congestion and parking, workforce housing, the homeless population, bike paths, crime, and viability of the SLO downtown as vital community issues.
Council members cited a deep and experienced candidate field and urged applicants to run again in 2022.
Matt Ritter, a Cal Poly biology professor and chair of the SLO Tree Committee, withdrew his intent to seek mayor appointment before Tuesday’s meeting, said City Clerk Teresa Purrington.
Mark Buchman, an educational consultant, also withdrew his candidacy.
This story was originally published October 5, 2021 at 9:43 PM.
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